CounterOlympics first video production

CounterOlympics first video production! A film made by Kostas Deligiannidis, Mike Wells and Julian Cheyne.

The true cost of the London Olympics will only be known after the Games are over.

The original budget of £2.4billion may now have risen ten times to £24billion.

The Games are not ‘within’ budget’ and many costs such as the acquisition of the land, the remediation, spending by government departments and quangos are not included in the revised budget of £9.34billion

The ‘opportunity costs’ of spending £24billion could have gone a long way to saving Britain from the Tory austerity shock doctrine

Filed under: film, finance, Olympic legacy, the problem with the Olympics

London 2012: 10 reasons some people will dread the Olympics

We can think of more than 10 reasons to dread the Olympics, but this is a start…

BBC, 28 March 2012

This year’s Olympics have generated vast amounts of excitement among everybody in the UK. Well, that’s not quite right. Some people are really, really dreading them.

It’s been difficult to escape the crescendo of positive publicity about the London games.

IOC chief Jacques Rogge is visiting London for the final inspection, which is set to suggest everything is on track.

Everyone from politicians to pole vaulters has waxed lyrical about the amazing spectacle that is going to take place this summer, bringing together a nation in a blaze of feverish excitement and sporting pride.

But there are those who are not quite convinced.

There are criticisms from people in London that the Games will cause chaos, disrupt business and make life more difficult for many people.

And there are critics hundreds of miles away from London who still can’t quite work out why they’re paying for the Games.

So what are the reasons behind some people’s lack of enthusiasm?

Read the reasons here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17525402

Filed under: the problem with the Olympics

Rioters and Terrorists – a poem by Nick LeScal

Please stand by
for an important public announcement
upon the Olympics from
The Committee for Organised Fun:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tax-paying, hard-working
Citizens of Britain,

It is with the best Bulldog spirit
That I can roundly declare
The Games, this year,
Will be a family affair.

For the privileged, ticketed few,
A branded and spanking-new
Stadium awaits,
Complete with reinforced concrete
Blast-proof gates……

Read the full poem on Nick LeScal’s website

Filed under: the problem with the Olympics

Olympic Sized Lies

The myth: An inclusive festival providing a legacy of hope through regenerating a run-down marginal East End. Huge benefits in terms of jobs, homes, increases in tourism and prosperity, of improvements in health and greater participation in sport.

The reality: The past ten Olympics have in fact brought a legacy of displacement, a burden of public debt, derelict or underused stadia and few long term jobs. Nations have won bids by paying bribes or making deals as with Salt Lake City, Sydney and Beijing.

Filed under: the problem with the Olympics

Games Monitor

Games Monitor is a network of people raising awareness about issues within the London Olympic development processes.

“We want to highlight the local, London and international implications of the Olympic industry. We seek to deconstruct the ‘fantastic’ hype of Olympic boosterism and the eager complicity of the ‘urban elites’ in politics, business, the media, sport, academia and local institutional ‘community stakeholders’.”

Games Monitor publish all the latest stories plus background papers, contacts for media interviews and much more. http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/

Filed under: info sources, the problem with the Olympics

A beginners guide to the social impacts of the Olympics

Taken from http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/333

The Olympics project is large and complex. It is not easy to quickly grasp the nature of its probable impacts on the Lower Lea Valley and London. Here is a collection of four useful papers which together give a relatively short description of some of the significant impacts.

Filed under: the problem with the Olympics